


quia

by armethaumaturgy



Series: q-rious [1]
Category: Elsword (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2019-01-07 04:45:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12226038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/armethaumaturgy/pseuds/armethaumaturgy
Summary: Sia’s eyes, dark as usual, look over the man Esper had been interrogating (torturingdoesn’t roll off the tongue quite as well. they’re sophisticated, after all). There’s something appreciative in them.





	quia

There’s blood thumping in his ears, and he almost misses the warehouse door creaking open. Light footsteps advance towards him, but he only snaps back to himself when a hand comes to rest on his shoulder.

“You did quite the number on him,” the man says, the low lilt of his voice dragging through Esper’s mind like the knife he grips in his tense fingers.

“Has it already been ten minutes?” he asks, turning to look at the taller man. Sia’s eyes, dark as usual, look over the man Esper had been interrogating ( _torturing_ doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as well. they’re sophisticated, after all). There’s something appreciative in them.

“Actually, it’s been fifteen,” Sia tells him. With ease, he grips Esper’s hand. It relaxes under his touch, and he can easily take the knife, unheeding that he gets still-warm blood all over his hand in the process.

“Go get cleaned up and wait at the entrance. I’ll call if you need to do more, but it shouldn’t be necessary.”

Which is Sia’s way of saying  _‘You did a great job_ ,’ so Esper takes it as such. He washes the blood off of his hands in the sink by the wall, noting with surprise that his sleeves, though dark, are devoid of blood this time. And then he leaves Sia and that unfortunate man — or what’s left of him, really — to stand guard like he’d been told to.

Sia is already repeating the same questions he’d asked before letting Esper have his way, but unlike before, it seems he’s getting answers instead of getting spat at.

The warehouse door closes with a loud bang behind him. Esper rests his back against it, breathing in the air full of smog. It fills his lungs, but it’s marginally better than the stuffy air inside.

From the breast pocket of his suit, he pulls out his pack of cigarettes. He rolls one of the slims between his fingers, flicking his lighter on and off a few times. Then his expression hardens again and he takes a drag, puffing out the smoke slowly. His narrowed eyes glance around.

The block might be quiet and this warehouse inconspicuous, but one never knows. He’s firstly a bodyguard, after all.

He’s not quite sure how long he stands there, too lazy to check the watch on his wrist, ears straining to the softest sounds, but by the time he stomps onto the butt of his cigarette, Sia re-emerges from the building, wiping the knife with his handkerchief.

He hands it back to Esper, now devoid of the blood, and Esper pockets it in his hidden holster. A  _thanks_ hangs at the tip of his tongue, but Sia nods and twists faster, guiding the way to their car, parked a little ways further.

“Is it fine to leave him like that?” Esper asks as he starts the car’s engine.

“All anyone would find is a faceless body,” Sia replies, eyes trained out of the window.

“And you call  _me_ sadistic,” Esper mumbles back, pulling out.

“You’re not a sadist. I never called you that.”

Esper pauses, his grip tightening on the gearbox momentarily. “I suppose not,” he agrees. Sia is right, Esper can’t actually remember him saying that, ever. For some reason, that knowledge twists his stomach into knots.

Suddenly, the silence in the car is much, much heavier.

“What would you do if I  _was_ a sadist?”

Sia turns his head to look at him. Esper keeps his gaze on the road, pointedly averting Sia’s. He’s not even sure why he’s asking.

Sia shrugs noncommittally. “Why would I do anything? You’re not one, so why do you ask anyhow?”

Esper laughs, perfectly executing a U-turn with one smooth motion. They relax when the centrifugal force lets up.  “Just wondering,” Esper says, checking the rear mirror to make sure no one is following them.

Sia returns his gaze to the streets. “How about you wonder about something more important than useless what-ifs? How about where we’ll stop for lunch, I’m starving.”

“Most people wouldn’t feel like eating after something like that,” the driver comments, but he does take the turn to the closest McDrive.

“That was nothing. You only had fifteen minutes, remember? And since when do we fit the criteria for ‘most people’?”

Esper reaches up to readjust the rear mirror, and then his eyes flick to Sia. He catches the tiny upturn of his lips, barely there. He’d say he mirrors it, but his stretches his whole face, a bit lopsided.

“Since we started eating junk food after work?” he supplies.

A quiet snort is all the answer he gets, but it’s also much more than he needs to feel happy.

**Author's Note:**

> sia; ex-right hand, the new head of the gang after infi had been proclaimed dead, having been missing for months. very secluded, quiet after that.
> 
> esper; his bodyguard. aloof, might enjoy torturing people if sia needs him to. has a very particular set of values. sia had disbanded the gang’s slave branch a week after hiring esper.


End file.
